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The study aimed to investigate the extended effects and interrelations of corneal biomechanics, corneal optical density (COD), corneal thickness (CT), and intraocular pressure (IOP) following cataract surgery. Sixteen eyes were analyzed prospectively. The Corneal Visualization Scheimpflug Technology (Corvis ST) device assessed corneal biomechanics, while the Pentacam AxL ® (Pentacam) measured COD and CT. Postoperative data were collected around six months after surgery, with a subgroup analysis of data at nine months. The Pearson correlation was used to examine the relationship between surgical-induced changes in corneal biomechanics and COD. At six months, significant postoperative differences were observed in various biomechanical indices, including uncorrected IOP (IOPuct) and biomechanics-corrected IOP (bIOP). However, many indices lost statistical significance by the nine-month mark, suggesting the reversibility of postoperative corneal changes. Postoperative COD increased at the anterior layer of the 2-6 mm annulus and incision site. The changes in COD correlated with certain biomechanical indices, including maximal (Max) deformative amplitude (DA) and stiffness parameter (SP). In conclusion, despite significant immediate postoperative changes, corneal biomechanics, COD, and IOP experienced a gradual recovery process following cataract surgery. Clinicians should maintain vigilance for any unusual changes during the short-term observation period to detect abnormalities early.

Purpose: To compare corneal haze between active ulcer and healed scarring using a Scheimpflug densitometry., Materials and Methods: A prospective longitudinal study enrolled 30 patients (30 eyes) with ulcerative keratitis (UK). Each subject's corneal optical density (COD) was measured with a Scheimpflug corneal densitometry, Pentacam® AXL (Oculus GmbH, Wetzlar, Germany), at the active ulcerative and complete scarring stage. The COD data were analyzed through distinct methods (inbuilt, sorted annular partitions, and ulcer-matching densitometric maps). We compared different CODs to select the better index for clinically monitoring the transition from corneal ulceration to healed scar., Results: The CODs of the periphery (P = 0.0024) and outside of the active ulcer (P = 0.0002) significantly decreased after scarring. Partitioning the cornea into different depths and annular zones, the anterior layer, center layer, and the 2-6 mm annular zone had a more remarkable COD decrease after scar formation. The 3rd-sorted COD in the anterior layer revealed the highest area under the receiver-operating characteristic curves (0.709), in which 90% of subjects had COD reduction during the ulcer-to-scar transition., Conclusions: Aside from subjective judgment based on clinical signs, the Scheimpflug tomography-based densitometry could provide objective and efficient monitoring of the corneal opacity evolution in UK patients. Because the 3rd-sorted annular COD is a better index than the inbuilt or mapping CODs in differentiating active ulcers from healed scars, this COD could be a clinically promising parameter to monitor the progression of UK patients., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Although Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccinations are generally recommended for persons with epilepsy (PwE), a significant vaccination gap remains due to patient concerns over the risk of post-vaccination seizure aggravation (PVSA). In this single-centre, retrospective cohort study, we aimed to determine the early (7-day) and delayed (30-day) risk of PVSA, and to identify clinical predictors of PVSA among PwE. Adult epilepsy patients aged ≥18 years without a history of COVID-19 infection were recruited from a specialty epilepsy clinic in early 2022. Demographic, epilepsy characteristics, and vaccination data were extracted from a centralized electronic patient record. Seizure frequency before and after vaccination, vaccination-related adverse effects, and reasons for or against vaccination were obtained by a structured questionnaire. A total of 786 PwEs were included, of which 27.0% were drug-resistant. At the time of recruitment, 74.6% had at least 1 dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. Subjects with higher seizure frequency ( p < 0.0005), on more anti-seizure medications ( p = 0.004), or had drug-resistant epilepsy ( p = 0.001) were less likely to be vaccinated. No significant increase in seizure frequency was observed in the early (7 days) and delayed phases (30 days) after vaccination in our cohort. On the contrary, there was an overall significant reduction in seizure frequency 30 days after vaccination (1.31 vs. 1.89, t = 3.436; p = 0.001). This difference was seen in both types of vaccine (BNT162b2 and CoronaVac) and drug-resistant epilepsy, but just missed significance for the second dose (1.13 vs. 1.87, t = 1.921; p = 0.055). Only 5.3% had PVSA after either dose of vaccine. Higher pre-vaccination seizure frequency of ≥1 per week (OR 3.01, 95% CI 1.05-8.62; p = 0.04) and drug-resistant status (OR 3.32, 95% CI 1.45-249 7.61; p = 0.005) were predictive of PVSA. Meanwhile, seizure freedom for 3 months before vaccination was independently associated with a lower risk of PVSA (OR 0.11, 95% CI 0.04-0.28; p < 0.0005). This may guide epilepsy treatment strategies to achieve better seizure control for at least 3 months prior to vaccination. As COVID-19 shifts to an endemic phase, this study provides important data demonstrating the overall safety of COVID-19 vaccinations among PwE. Identification of high-risk patients with subsequent individualized approaches in treatment and monitoring strategies may alleviate vaccination hesitancy among PwE.

This study conducted a systematic scoping review to collect definitions and explanations of esports and its related concepts in the existing literature. A thematic coding approach was used to screen possible disagreements and issues between the different characteristics of esports as presented in the existing definitions. Based on a critical discussion, the results of the coding were combined with the objective facts of the current esports industry and theories from similar fields to reconstruct the construction of an esports definition. In addition, the relationship between esports and its related concepts was discussed based on the proposed esports definition structure. The proposed esports criteria can help avoid misunderstandings and confusion in future studies regarding the research subjects related to esports and propose standardized usage of relevant terms in the field of esports research., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2023 The Authors.)

Background: Invasive fungal rhinosinusitis (IFS) with orbital complications has remained a challenging disease over the past few decades. Only a few studies have been conducted to investigate the factors associated with orbital complications in fungal rhinosinusitis (FRS). We aimed to review the characteristics between IFS and non-invasive fungal rhinosinusitis (NIFS) and determine clinical factors associated with orbital complications and overall survival., Methods: A multi-institutional database review study was conducted using the Chang Gung Research Database (CGRD) from January 2001 to January 2019. We identified FRS patients using International Classification of Diseases diagnosis codes and SNOMED CT. We categorized patients into IFS and NIFS groups and analyzed the demographic data, underlying diseases, clinical symptoms, laboratory data, image findings, fungal infection status, and survival outcomes., Results: We included 1624 patients in our study, with 59 IFS patients and 1565 NIFS patients. The history of an organ or hematopoietic cell transplantation had a significant prognostic effect on the survival outcomes, with surgical intervention and high hemoglobin (Hb) and albumin levels recognized as positive predictors. Posterior ethmoid sinus involvement, sphenoid sinus involvement, facial pain, blurred vision, and periorbital swelling were risk factors of orbital complications., Conclusions: In NIFS patients, orbital complications were found to be associated with old age, a high WBC count, high blood glucose, and a high CRP level. For the risk factors of orbital complications in IFS patients, posterior ethmoid sinus involvement, sphenoid sinus involvement, facial pain, blurred vision, and periorbital swelling were recognized as predictors. Among IFS patients, a history of organ or hematopoietic cell transplantation was a risk factor for poor survival, while, conversely, surgical intervention and high Hb and albumin levels were related to improved survival. As predictors of orbital complications in IFS patients, posterior ethmoid sinus involvement, sphenoid sinus involvement, facial pain, blurred vision, and periorbital swelling upon the first visit should raise attention, with close monitoring.

Background: Removal of the surrounding bone during dacryocystorhinostomy may present a higher risk of skull base injury in patients with frontal sinus aplasia. We used sinus plain films to predict cases with a greater risk of a reduced skull base distance in dacryocystorhinostomy. Methods: Sinus plain films and computed tomography data from patients were retrospectively evaluated. The frontal sinus was classified as normal, hypoplastic, or aplastic according to Waters’ view. Correlations of the frontal sinus roof-supraorbital margin (F-O) and the frontal sinus roof-nasion (F-N) distances on plain film with the closest lacrimal sac-anterior skull base (LS-ASB) distance measured on computed tomography images were assessed. Results: We evaluated 110 patients. In total, 16 (11.8%) patients had frontal sinus aplasia, of whom 6 (2.7%) had bilateral and 10 (9.1%) had unilateral aplasia. Sides with frontal sinus aplasia based on Waters’ view had a shorter median LS-ASB distance than normal or hypoplastic sides. The F-O and F-N distances in Waters’ view were significantly positively correlated with the computed tomographic LS-ASB distance. The F-O margin and F-N distance thresholds for predicting an LS-ASB distance < 10 mm, considered a risky distance, were 11.6 and 14.4 mm, respectively, with sensitivities of 100% and 91.7%, and specificities of 76% and 82.7%, respectively. Conclusions: The LS-ASB distance is closer on aplastic frontal sinus sides. Waters’ view on plain sinus films can provide a fast and inexpensive method for evaluating the skull base distance and sinonasal condition during planning for dacryocystorhinostomy.